The course, organized through lectures, seminars and, if possible, practical exercises, aims at developing in students the ability to understand and to assess the complexity of the historical built, in order to sharpen thier awareness, methodologically and culturally founded, towards the existing architecture, essential for those who wish to gain a preparation aimed at the conservation project and reuse of the cultural heritage.

Content

Teaching is organized through lectures, seminars and possible practical exercises.
The lessons, in a context of time ranging from Roman times up to, through the tardoantichità, the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, the early Nineteenth century, analyze the main building practices adopted, reviewed by different both historical and local contexts, paying attention to the building materials and their use and evaluating the character of the building structures and of the building elements from the foundations to the coverings (with particular interest for arches, vaults and masonry domes) and the coatings. The main production processes of architecture, the site organization, the composition and the work of the workers, the supply of building materials, work tools and machinery used are considered as well. It is analysed the figure of the designer, his education in relation to the architectural culture, art and science, his design tools, his role played in the management of the yard.
The didactic module "The stones in the historical buildings" (20 hours) held by prof. Alberto Clerici will touch the issues relating to the characteristics of the stone material, its extraction process, processing, degradation.
As part of the course and of the learning module, visits to some quarries in Lombardy, centers of production of building materials and museums of the territory are included.
Research deepenings (individual or in a small groups) on a general subject are foreseen choosing in a shortlist of topics proposed by the teaching team. The subject is "Uses of the stone materials in the Reinassance architecture of Brescia".

Extended Syllabus

The building materials of the pre-industrial age.
The stones. Physical and morphological characteristics. Production, supply and use of the stone: the quarries, moving, lifting, finishing the blocks.
The clay. Production, supply and use of the clay.
The production of bricks.
The traditional brick wall, the tools of the mason, the texture of the walls; the surface of the wall; the mortar joints.
The binders. The chalk. The lime stone; the production cycle of lime. Methods of production of the different types of mortar: binder , aggregates, water , fillers and hydraulic additives.
Plasterwork . The different types of plaster. Surface finishing. Plaster graffiti, “marmorino”, “scialbatura”.
The wood: physical and morphological characteristics of the material; wood compression and tension; fixed and mobile nodes. Production, supply and use of wood.
The traditional carpentry: floors and trusses.
The metals. Iron , steel , cast iron: production, supply and use.
The glass. Raw material. Production, supply and use of the glass.
The Roman masonry. The masonry structures in large and small blocks. Opus siliceum, opus quadratum and its manners Etruscan , Greek , Roman, opus africanum, opus craticium, opus incertum, opus quasi reticulatum, opus reticulatum, opus mixtum, opus spicatum; opus testaceum, opus vittatum. Outdoor and indoor flooring. opus sectile , opus spicatum , flooring traditional layers according to Vitruvius ( statumen, rudus and nucleus ), opus opus signinum, opus musivum (hints).
Vaulted structures: the historical genesis of the arch. The overhanging arch. The wedge arch; the opus caementicium arches and vaults.
Roman building techniques. Construction techniques of the Pantheon, from the foundations to the walls and the dome.
Construction techniques of the Middle Ages. The architect and the building yard in the Middle Ages. The wall system in the Middle Ages; vaulted systems with ribbed vaults and cross vaults. The buttress-flying buttress system.
Construction techniques of the Renaissance .
The building context in the early fifteenth century in Florence and the design of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. Brunelleschi’s program. Structure and geometry of the dome; construction materials; structural connections; inclined self-supporting rows, herringbone.
Static principles of masonry arches and domes: theory and practice in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Recommended Bibliography

Compulsory, as a general reference:
U. Menicali, I materiali dell'edilizia storica, Nuova Italia Scientifica, Roma 1992 (or following editions).
Specific references are given during the lessons.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

Ex cathedra lessons.
Outdoor stages and research visits.
Research deepening (individual or in a small group) on a subject chosen in a shortlist of topics proposed by the teaching team.

Assessment Methods

Oral examination.
No intermediate tests are foreseen.
The teaching team gives weekly revisions of the research deepening.
The students are admitted to the exam only when their research deepening is considered completed at the tutor’s discretion.
The exam is divided into two parts: the first regarding the research deepining and the subjects of the course, the second regarding the subjects of the seminar "The rocks in the historic building construction".

Assessment:

Final Mark

Programme of Educational Activities

Start date of teaching period:

Monday, September 19, 2016

End date of teaching period:

Friday, December 23, 2016

Other Information

For further information on the teaching module of prof. Clerici, visit the professor's Syllabus website.